Legislative holdovers: What Michigan lawmakers didn’t do in 2024

Under the bills, legislative bodies would not have to release communications between lawmakers and their constituents, internal investigation reports, reports from party leaders, personal cell phone numbers and reports related to pending civil litigation until those matters are resolved.

Communications between a legislator and a constituent would be made public only if that constituent was a registered lobbyist, but not if the constituent was part of a special interest group or a powerful business leader.

The bill now awaits consideration in the House of Representatives, which has not voted on legislation since June 27.

Transparency reforms

In the same vein as the open records package, lawmakers in the House of Representatives have proposed further transparency and ethics reforms, including the creation of a one-year cooling-off period that would prevent elected officials from immediately accepting jobs as lobbyists.

The package, known as the BRITE Act, was publicly supported by Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson and Attorney General Dana Nessel, both Democrats, during testimony before the committee earlier this year.

However, the bills have yet to make it out of committee, let alone to a vote in the full House. No action has been taken on the legislation since a hearing in April.

School Safety Efforts

After the 2021 Oxford High School shooting that left four students dead, lawmakers seized the opportunity to focus on improving school safety.

Among other things, a package of twelve bills was introduced that would establish safety and security training requirements for all security personnel. It would also require that tips sent to the OK2Say student safety program be forwarded to authorities within 24 hours. Additionally, each intermediate district would be required to appoint at least one emergency and safety manager and at least one mental health coordinator.

The bills were reintroduced in February 2023 after failing to gain traction in 2022. Since then, only five of the 12 bills have received a hearing, and the legislation remains stalled in the House Education Committee.

State-based health exchange

In late June, Senate Democrats passed bills along partisan lines that would create a state-based health insurance exchange under the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare.

The legislation would move the state away from the federal health insurance market and toward a state-based exchange, which proponents called a “logical next step” to provide more flexibility in health insurance.

The bill was referred to a House committee in June, where it needs a final vote in the chamber before it passes. If signed by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, the exchange would go live in 2026.